Apparatus for water determination

Abstract

The invention comprises an improved electrolytic cell of the Keidel type, U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,945, in which the original set of electrodes is replaced by two sets having a ratio of length of not less than 3 to 1 and having independent terminals and independent bodies coupled together. The invention also may comprise potting the element including the longer set of electrodes and leaving the element including the shorter set of electrodes unpotted.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 
     
       1. An electrolytic cell comprising a first hollow element adapted to pass sample fluid and containing electrodes bridged by a hygroscopic material and a second, separate, hollow element adapted to pass sample fluid and containing electrodes bridged by a hygroscopic material in series of a further point from the standpoint of the passage of the fluid with the first element, the length of the first element being at most one-third of the length of the second element. 
     
     
       2. An electrolytic cell as described in claim 1, in which there is an outer hollow body structure, and there is potting material extending between the exterior of the second element and the outer hollow body structure but no potting material extending between the exterior of the first element and the outer hollow body structure. 
     
     
       3. An electrolytic cell as described in claim 2, in which the outer body structure is made up of one single continuous body. 
     
     
       4. An electrolytic cell of claim 2, in which the two elements are spaced from one another so that the fluid in the one element can be at a substantially different temperature from the fluid in the other element. 
     
     
       5. An electrolytic cell as described in claim 1, in which each of the two elements has its own particular separate outer body, and coupling means acts to join the two bodies together. 
     
     
       6. An electrolytic cell as described in claim 5, in which there is potting extending between the second element and the outer body of the second element but not between the first element and the outer body of the first element. 
     
     
       7. An electrolytic cell of claim 1, in which the electrodes are in each case a pair of helical wires partially embedded in the inner surface of the element. 
     
     
       8. An electrolytic cell of claim 1, in which the two elements are spaced from one another.